Zombie Apocalypse: Creation

Meanwhile, over at some battlefield...

"Watch where you are going. You almost ran over me with your drone!"

A soldier yelled in anger, looking towards another soldier standing on a rooftop with some sort of remote in his hand.

"Sorry! Third time flying this thing."

As the drone operator looked towards the display tablet on his lap, he could see another drone flying extremely low, just a few inches away from the ground.

"Now, where was that stupid zombie?"

Turning his joystick, the video soon cuts into a room that was completely pitch black, with only a small bit of sunlight shining through the window.

"Thermal camera, on."

With a flick of a switch, the video turned blue and red as he started turning the joystick 360 degrees back and forth.

"Huh, weird. I don't see anything here." Another drone operator on the right murmured.

"I don't see anything here either."

Confused, the drone operator pressed a special button on the side, which instantly started to cause the drone to become unstable.

A faint musical sound could be heard in the distance, almost as if the special button had made the drone release some loud music inside a room.

"Still nothing."

"Weird... I'm going to check out the other room." The other drone operator murmured as he began turning his left joystick up.

"Yo, what the hell are you guys doing? Are you trying to find the zombie or alert an entire horde here?"

As the soldier from the ground yelled out again, the drone operator clicked the special button again before answering back.

"What do you think, Private Lin? You think it's easy flying a drone?"

"Don't argue with him. Just focus on your job, Private Lin." A senior officer standing behind ordered.

"Yes, sir."

After flying around with the drone for almost a whole minute, the second drone operator finally found some sort of clue.

"I think I found the zombie. It's inside the closet." The second drone operator said out loud.

"Inside the closet? Why would it be hiding there?"

Unable to decide, the senior officer stood in silence as the soldiers below started to get a little impatient.

"Commander, just let us check it ourselves. There's no need to fly a whole drone squad just for a singular zombie."

"Are you the commander, or am I the commander?"

The soldiers immediately fell into silence. But their patience soon ran thin as they started prepping for a door breach.

"Squad number 114, a zombie horde is starting to gather towards your direction." A voice from a walkie-talkie suddenly popped up.

"Everyone! Come up to the building, the zombie horde is coming! You two, fly your drone back out."

"Yes, sir!"

As the soldiers down below gathered their stuff and headed into the same building as the senior officer, two drones flew straight out of the apartment across from them.

"Shit, we're going to be stuck here for a bit." The senior officer murmured as his binoculars showed a massive black dot in the distance.

"Shame. We were so close to finishing it."

The second drone operator gently catches his drone as it slowly descends into his hand, with the first drone operator doing the same.

---

Somewhere in a tall building...

"Commander Yezi, there's a zombie horde forming on the Western outskirts of Zhaoqing." A soldier reported after saluting.

"Another one? Just send a Division to deal with it. No need to ask me to deal with it."

As Yezi examined the map on the table, hundreds of thousands of building was all crossed off with red markers.

Only a small fraction remained. Ones that kept on giving him a headache, as the zombies had gotten way smarter than usual.

"Commander... We already directed one division to Huodao town and one to Dinghu district."

"Do you think I don't know that? Just send the 3rd Division there... Cancel their break and tell them after this, they can have a whole week off."

"Yes, sir."

As the messenger walked out of the room, Yezi shifted his attention back to the map before him.

He could visibly see areas under his control, which included the Eastern side, the Northern side, and the Southern side of Zhaoqing city proper.

Only the Western outskirts remained a danger. Outside of the city itself, the various towns and villages were still under zombie control.

Although he had already cleared a few of the nearby ones in the past, there were zombies somehow still popping up out in those exact villages.

If it weren't for investigations showing that the zombies were just migrating into rural areas, he would have genuinely believed the idea of them appearing out of thin air.

"Commander Yezi, are we rushing the situation a little bit too fast?" A soldier with a Colonel badge asked.

"The faster we get this done, the faster we can all head back home. I'm dying to see my kids again."

Yezi answered straightforwardly, barely hiding his intent behind the order he had just given a few minutes ago.

"Ahem, besides. The longer we wait, the smarter these annoy ass zombies become. Who knows when they are going to start learning how to use guns one day?"

Both of the Colonels standing next to him fell into silence. It was almost as if they were afraid of what Yezi had just randomly spitball as becoming reality one day.

"What are you all standing in silence for? Help me draft the next plan of the operation. I want this thing done by the end of June."

"June is way too fast, sir." One of the Colonels argued back, putting it bluntly right into Yezi's face.

"We're getting this done in June. We've got drones and even tanks coming up. There is no way we don't clear this within two months."

As the three of them looked at the map, the small leftover zone they needed to clean up seemed to be easily clearable.

But for the past few days of experience, it was the opposite story.

"Commander Yezi, it will take almost half a day to drive towards Huaji County in the far north." The Colonel on the left reminded.

"I know..."

Yezi's mind soon came to terms with reality as his brain had already calculated the time needed to clear the various cities before getting to Huaji County.

Not to mention the Fengkai County in the far west of the map, which was on the border of Zhaoqing city's administrative zone.

"Let's just make a plan for next month... I guess we can clear Zhaoqing by the end of August." Yezi murmured in defeat as reality was much harsher than he imagined.

Neither of the Colonels said anything back, but their hands were already reaching over for a piece of paper to begin writing for the upcoming draft.

---

"Commander, how many kilometers until we're there?' A soldier asked, marching down a dirt path with his gun and backpack on his back.

"The more you ask, the longer it becomes. Keep your mouth shut and reserve the energy for walking."

The senior officer's response made the soldier fall into silence as all the nearby soldiers marched on, remaining silent just like the officer.

Looking back, the soldier could see thousands of people right behind him. All marching down the dirt path with their guns and backpacks.

As the sun continued to shine brightly from the sky, one of the soldiers nearby soon collapsed onto the floor.

"Everyone pauses. Take a break and drink some water."

Several of his peers quickly rushed over to the exhausted soldier, taking out their water canteens before turning the lids.

With a few drops of water, the exhausted soldier slowly sat back up as the two soldiers slowly carried him into a nearby shade.

"It's so damn hot when it's only May." A soldier complained as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"That's the southern weather for you, Northern boy." Another soldier chimed in as they both sat down next to a small bush.

"How do you know I'm from the North?"

"Notice how no one is complaining about the heat? Just wait until June and August. That's when the real heat comes in."

As soon as the second soldier said out the month, every soldier nearby sighed in disbelief as if they were already imagining the peak heat in the summer.

"Ahem, everyone, cheer up... I heard that Commander-in-Chief Xiaoyun had started a plan to halt the operation during the hottest months."

"Is that really true?" A soldier in the crowd cast his doubt, with many soldiers agreeing with him.

"I heard it straight from General Yezi just a few days ago. You tell if it is reliable or not."

Everyone in the army immediately stood up in excitement. Their body filled with energy as if that was the message that they needed to keep going.

"Finally, some good news from our Colonel for once," An officer with a Lieutenant colonel badge joked.

As everyone started laughing, the Colonel himself couldn't help but laugh, knowing what he said earlier was only the half-truth.